Arsenal captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang says he ‘does not care’ about Antonio Conte’s appointment at Tottenham and is not paying attention to his rivals.
The two North London sides have had different starts to the season, with Arsenal initially under pressure after three straight defeats left them bottom of the table while Spurs were top and Nuno Espirito Santo was named Manager of the Month for September.
But the table looks different a few months later, with the Gunners now fifth – six points off top spot – after winning six and drawing two of their subsequent eight matches.
Tottenham, by contrast, lost five of their last eight matches and now sit in ninth place, four points behind Arsenal, and made the drastic decision to sack Nuno after losing 3-0 to Manchester United.
They moved to bring in a world-class successor, though, with Conte signing a one-and-a-half-year deal to try and transform the team.
The Italian coach has won titles with Juventus, Chelsea and Inter Milan and was even linked with the Arsenal job when Mikel Arteta was under pressure at the start of the season.
But despite his illustrious CV and track record of developing title-winning clubs, Arsenal skipper Aubameyang says he is not worried about Conte’s arrival in north London.
Asked what his first thoughts were when it emerged that Conte would become the new Tottenham manager, Aubameyang laughed and told Sky Sports: ‘I don’t care! I’ll be honest, I really don’t care.
‘Like, that’s not my problem. Really.’
Asked if he was worried from Arsenal’s perspective, Aubameyang continued laughing and said: ‘No worries. [We’re gonna back ourselves] for sure, 100%.’
Aubameyang was also asked if he would rather retire or sign for Spurs and revealed that he came close to joining the club years ago only for them to pull the plug, something he is yet to forget.
‘You don’t have to ask the question, you know [the answer] already. I would retire, even more because a few years ago I was close to signing for Tottenham and at the end I don’t know what they did… so I retire, for sure, 100%,’ he said.
‘I was at Saint-Etienne if I’m not wrong, or at the beginning at Dortmund, I don’t remember exactly. I came to [the training ground], I went to the stadium as well at White Hart Lane. The day after they just never gave an answer, they never called back, so I was like, “Okay, no worries”.’
